NotMyBathroom tossed from court

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 19:24:18 PM MST

NotMyBathroom.com has lost a lawsuit alleging Missoula city and county officials tried to thwart its petition to strike down the city's anti-discrimination ordinance

"Because the Petitioners reference neither the statute alleged to have been violated nor the facts which support their application ... the Petitioners' application for alternative writ of mandate is DENIED," reads the order from Missoula District Judge Douglas Harkin.

I'm no lawyer, but didn't Judge Harkin just call Tei Nash a dumb*ss?

Nash suing Missoula

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Jun 18, 2010 at 10:48:53 AM MST

According to a lawsuit filed today with the Fourth Judicial Court, Not My Bathroom (NMB) chairman Tei Nash, a new group dubbed "Right to Vote Missoula" and Missoula resident John Porter are accusing Missoula City Attorney Jim Nugent and Missoula County Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier of employing "intentional and discriminatory tactics" to prevent NMB from initiating the legal process required to overturn Missoula's new anti-discrimination ordinance.

Uh, right. Remember, we're talking about a guy - Tei Nash - who submitted the second draft of his petition under his own name after explicitly being told, as a non-elector in Missoula, he has no standing to do so. Nash and his group have yet add the word "repeal" to their petition to, uh, you know, repeal the anti-discrimination ordinance.

But you sort of got the feeling that the method had some madness to it. Hand in a series execrable drafts, ignoring the comments made by the city attorney, then sue the city for not accepting your petition! Sure beats, you know, gathering signatures and stuff. Especially if you don't actually know anyone in Missoula, where the law would be in effect.

Bob Wire:

The anti-discrimination law...was put in place to help prevent discrimination. Period. The efforts of this goofball bunch who live in constant fear and paranoia that the homos are coming to get them are wasting energy and resources on this frivolous lawsuit. Hey, Mr. Family Values, Mr. Super Patriot, Mr. Constitutionalist? Why don't you buy some big garbage bags and spend your time and energy cleaning up the garbage along the Bitterroot River? Or along Highway 93? Why don't you put your efforts into helping make drunk driving laws tougher, so we don't keep seeing stories about some moron with 11 DUIs? Why don't you read your ever-lovin' Bible and learn how to live and let live? You have a chance here to allow some tolerance and compassion into our culture, and you're blowing it.

You want to keep transsexuals out of your bathrooms? Then I want you to keep your guns out of my stores. The next time you feel the need to go into a Starbucks wearing your beloved handgun proudly on your belt for all the world to feel, keep in mind that I just might be in the ladies room, brandishing my own single shooter. If I'm wearing a dress that day.

Nash to waste more Missoula taxpayer money

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Apr 30, 2010 at 11:08:56 AM MST

In an effort to overturn Missoula's recently approved anti-discrimination ordinance, Not My Bathroom (NMB) chairman Tei Nash submitted a second petition yesterday, constituting one of several steps NMB must take before putting the law up for a citywide vote.

"I just accepted the petition," says Debbe Merseal from the Missoula County election's office. "It has already been resubmitted to (Missoula City Attorney) Jim Nugent."

Apparently Nash listed his home address again as Miller Creek, which is outside city limits.

Remember what city attorney Jim Nugent said about that?

It is absolutely illogical that someone who is not a city elector have any standing to initiate a city ordinance referendum process with respect to a city government where they are neither a resident or a legal elector.

But then we're talking about a guy who's fighting civil rights with fears of pederasts in public bathrooms. I'm not sure logic is in play.

"Absolutely Illogical"

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 09:01:29 AM MST

There's about a gazillion reasons why Nugent thinks Nash's petition should be "rejected and denied," but the main one seems to be that Tei Nash doesn't live in Missoula (emphasis Nugent's):

...only the local government's electors, who by statutory definition of a municipal elector must be city residents, may initiate efforts to place municipal ordinances on the city ballot. It is absolutely illogical that someone who is not a city elector have any standing to initiate a city ordinance referendum process with respect to a city government where they are neither a resident or a legal elector. As you know, a municipal election for the City of Missoula would cost tens of thousands of dollars to conduct. It is basic elementary common sense that the electors of the jurisdiction that adopts the ordinance should be the only ones actively placing it on the ballot by petition as well as the only ones voting.

That's a good point about the cost of the special election that Nash and his Bitterroot buddies want Missoulians to bear, isn't it? Still, expect the Bathroom-obsessed to find a Missoula stooge to submit this thing.

"Please ignore the input you get from people who don't live here."

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 12:52:12 PM MST

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing to comment on the proposed closures in the Travel Plan. I a opposed to
the proposed wheeled motorized use changes, the proposed snowmobile use changes
and the proposed changes in motorized use.

It is just fine the way it is. Leave it alone and please ignore the input you get from
people who don't live here.

Sincerely,
Dallas D. Erickson

Also from that same Szpaller post:

Reporter Jamie Kelly said Notmybathroom.com chairman Tei Nash noted during a meeting yesterday that one reason the Notmybathroom.com folks want a September election is it's before University of Montana students get to town. (Hm. We do want their money, though, don't we?) That was at a meeting of Missoula's Conservative Patriots.

Most University of Montana students have something in common with each other that they don't share with Tei Nash: they live in Missoula.

One thing's for sure, kudos go to the people of Missoula for being so patient and open with those from outside the city who oppose the equality ordinance. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Tei Nash can't submit petition to overturn equality ordinance

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 09:34:31 AM MST

The ordinance passed last week by a 10-2 margin after a seven-hour Missoula City Council meeting featuring impassioned testimony from both sides of the issue. Not satisfied with the law's passage, NMB chairman Tei Nash submitted a petition last week to the Missoula County Elections Office that aimed to freeze the law and, ultimately, put it up for a citywide vote.

But City Attorney Jim Nugent says Nash, who lives in Miller Creek, is not a Missoula resident and, therefore, under state law, not eligible to initiate the ballot referendum process.

"He's not an elector, so he doesn't get to initiate this," Nugent says. "I'm not going to approve the petition."

Earlier, I said that the fact the ordinance opponents are mostly non-Missoula residents was one of the bigger facets of the controversy that wasn't getting much attention. In fact, opponents to the ordinance apparently will have to scramble to find someone just to submit the petition, let alone find 7500 signatures to put on it.

In short, a bunch of out-of-town radicals have made it their mission to overturn a civil rights ordinance that the people of Missoula want. If the situation was reversed, and a bunch of Missoulians  protested popular city ordinances in the Bitterroot, how do you think it would turn out? (Hint, guns would probably play a part.)

Anti-discrimination ordinance opponents to plague us all summer

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 10:46:18 AM MST

In a bid to shoot down the city of Missoula's newly adopted equality ordinance, NotMyBathroom.com chairman Tei Nash filed a petition Thursday to suspend the law and place it on the ballot.

"It's going to be sent out for referendum so that the public can vote on it," Nash said shortly after submitting the paperwork to the Missoula County Elections Office.

I don't know what this guy has got against gays - especially considering his daughter is gay - but whatever it is, it's serious, and it's going to plague us through the summer.

To succeed in putting the measure to a public vote, NotMyBathroom.com supporters must gather signatures from 15 percent of the voters registered in the city of Missoula. Chief Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier said that's 7,391 verified signatures.

Dallas Erickson of Montana HOME - Help Our Moral Environment - said in the past he has collected more than 7,000 signatures in the Bitterroot for another effort. Erickson, of Stevensville, also has been leadingNotMyBathroom.com and is a tireless crusader for his causes.

HOME has statewide membership, including "several" in the Missoula city limits, he said. Erickson said he believes it will be both challenging and possible to gather enough signatures.

"It's not going to be that easy - don't get me wrong," Erickson said. "But I believe it's very doable."

And isn't it interesting that one of the petitions' "spiritual" parents can't even sign this thing? To me, that's the most interesting part of this story - and the part that should p*ss Missoulians off - that opposition to this Missoula ordinance seems to stem from a handful of religious radicals in the Bitterroot. Of course, if they manage somehow to come up with 7,000 signatures (one presumes, by combing through retirement homes), we'll be paying for the referendum. And, yes, I'm a Missoula taxpayer.

Here's the kicker from the story, though: Erickson apparently plans on taking his case to the state legislature, and have them come up with a law to "prevent cities from enacting such ordinances." Ugh. I can't wait.

And then there's Dick Haines:

Ward 5 Councilman Dick Haines had some people scratching their heads when he voted "yes" early Tuesday morning for the city's new anti-discrimination law. The alderman's strategy became clearer when he spoke with KGVO radio host Peter Christian Tuesday morning for on-air broadcast. Haines explained to Christian that state and municipal law enables elected representatives who log a "yes" vote to bring legislation up again for formal discussion at a later date.

"I thought, well, this one might be an opportunity to bring back some of the concerns I have with this thing and get them out in front of the public," Haines said during the KGVO interview.

I was one of those head-scratchers. I thought, who knows? Maybe, just maybe, Haines was surprisingly enlightened on civil rights! Fat chance, right? His "yea" vote was simply a deceptive parliamentary trick that allows him to bring up the ordinance again.

Maybe he thought local businesses could benefit from the influx of crazed Bitterrooters' money...

In Missoula, the facts carried the day

by: Jay Stevens

Wed Apr 14, 2010 at 12:29:17 PM MST

The main opponents of the measure were so incapable of coming up with a reason to do so that didn't sound wildly homophobic that their arguments came across more as parody. In reality, the proponents of the measure probably found their biggest ally in the ridiculous arguments put forth by those who were against it....

But that's just the point for the opponents; they either cynically lie and fearmonger, hoping that they can confuse people who don't have time to really delve into the issue, or they themselves are hopelessly confused.

The fact of the matter is that there is little legitimate reason to disagree with the ordinance, short of just not liking homosexuals. For the most part, the ordinance merely protects homosexuals from losing their livelihoods and places of living....

I have to say, the level of vitriol and animosity, homophobia and (self?) deception among the ordinance's opponents didn't surprise me, but it certainly shocked me. Absolutely toxic. And completely misleading, whether out of ignorance or malice is moot.

One person in particular who has been the focus of pro-discriminators' ire that I want to laud is the Missoulian's Keila Szpaller. (And bookmark her blog if you already haven't.) Tei Nash, in an editorial on kcei.com, claims Szpaller "discriminated against the side that opposed" the ordinance and "is really a lobbyist for this ordinance it is {sic} plain and clear." Why? Probably because she dared to debunk the inaccuracies passed around by Nash's group.

Too often, the traditional media presents issues in a "he said/she said" fashion - quoting from both sides and letting the reader decide who's argument is more persuasive - and refusing to correct or interpret the opinions based on facts or context. Nash and NotMyBathroom counted on that kind of reporting, hoping the image of child predators stalking Missoula's bathrooms would derail the ordinance, but Szpaller, much to her and the Missoulian's credit, refused to pass on Nash's lies without correction.

Szpaller and the Missoulian were extremely fair in their coverage of the anti-discrimination ordinance. And armed with good information, Missoulians and their leaders overwhelmingly approved of their city council's votes for equality.